Quotes About Morality

No, I say. In no moral universe would this not be a crime, I say. I was a child, I tell him. Shame on you, I say. Shame on you, I say. Shame on you. And he laughs and reaches out for me. "You are cute as pie when you're angry," he says. "Come here," he says. "How old are you again?" he says. "Close your eyes," he says.

The scalding rhetoric of the "pro-life" movement seems to propose the derivative claim that a fetus is from the moment of its conception a full moral person with rights and interests equal in importance to those of any other member of the moral community. But very few people—even those who belong to the most vehemently anti-abortion groups—actually believe that, whatever they say.

I'm an atheist, and that's it. I believe there's nothing we can know except that we should be kind to each other and do what we can for people.

The whole effort for the past one hundred years has been to remove the moral responsibility from the individual and make him blame his own human wickedness on his society, but he helps to make his society, you see, and he will not take his responsibility for his part in it.

From Old Mortality ] ...religion put claws on Aunt Sally and gave her a post to whet them on.

You save the whales and shoot the people, huh?

We are only as noble as our actions prove us to be.

The moral transformation of individuals engaged in economic transactions tend to become, for example, the answer to economic problems: if only our greedy CEOs were saints!

All men have a little badness in them,' she whispered. Milo looked at her. 'Sometimes, honey... a woman can be just as evil as a man.

How is it possible to hate so deeply for deeds not yet done?

What is more, sir, his lordship went on, I believe I have a good idea of what you mean by 'professionalism.' It appears to mean getting one's way by cheating and manipulating. It appears to mean serving the dictates of greed and advantage rather than those of goodness and the desire to see justice prevail in the world. If that is the 'professionalism' you refer to, sir, I don't care much for it and have no wish to acquire it.

Today's world is too foul a place for fine and noble instincts.

What kind of god is it, sir, wishes wrong to go forgotten and unpunished?

I believe I have a good idea of what you mean by "professionalism". It appears to mean getting one's way by cheating and manipulating. It means ordering one's priorities according to greed and advantage rather than the desire to see goodness and justice prevail in the world. If that is the "professionalism" you refer to, sir, I don't much care for it and have no wish to acquire it.

Your Christian god of mercy gives men licence to pursue their greed, their lust for land and blood, knowing a few prayers and a little penance will bring forgiveness and blessing.

What kind of god is it, sir, wishes wrongs to go forgotten and unpunished?

I believe I have a good idea of what you mean by "professionalism." It appears to mean getting one's way by cheating and manipulating. It appears to mean serving the dictates of greed and advantage rather than those of goodness and the desire to see justice prevail in the world. If that is the "professionalism" you refer to, sir, I don't much care for it and have no wish to acquire it.

A G-Rated story? About taking some deformed baby and locking him up? And if it was true, and this poor guy had been locked up in there for decades, and someone threw in a perfectly good woman, what the hell do you think he'd do with her? Play Parcheesi?

Hunting humans for sport? Eating them? the bitterness in his voice cut through me. Yeah, I caught that part. That doesn't have anything to do with you? He lifted his eyes, gaze shuttered. No? Not unless being a werewolf transforms you into a wolf AND a redneck moron.

ethics were in most cases a burden that could be reasonably ignored in pursuit of necessity.

Mi stupisco che non ci abbia ancora mandato gli auguri di Natale, ha commentato Antonio. Me li immagino, di buon gusto, stampati in rilievo su pergamena, le migliori cartoline che riesce a rubare. Un breve messaggio in perfetta calligrafia: 'Buone vacanze, spero che stiate tutti bene. Ho fatto a fettine Ethan Ritter a Miami e ho gettato i resti nell'Atlantico. Vi faccio i miei migliori auguri per l'anno nuovo. Karl'.

Only humans kill for sport.

Sometimes doing the right thing was not nearly as easy as one might think. Which was perhaps why people did the wrong things so often.

But I didn't put it back on after the Porters. It isn't a crisis of faith. I'm not sure I ever had faith, not the way Mom does. Mine is more like Dad's - I believe there is a God, and I believe in honoring Him, but I'm not sure how much of a role He plays in our lives, and I don't blame Him for that, because it's up to us, isn't it? It's up to us to say we'll be a good person because that's what we believe is right, not because it'll earn us a better place in the next life.